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Gargash leads UAE delegation at GCC summit in Kuwait

Casting further doubt on the group's future, the UAE said on Tuesday it was forming a new military and economic committee with Saudi Arabia separate from the GCC.

The Kuwait's official news agency KUNA carried a curtain raiser on Tuesday morning saying that "GCC will kick off its summit amid aspirations to maintain further stability, security and integration amongst its member nations".

The Emirati ministry said the new "committee is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the interest of the two countries". The statement issued by UAE foreign ministry said that country's ruler and president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has approved the proposal.

The two countries are already close military allies, including in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling the Iranian-backed Houthis. While the UAE denies that a missile was sacked towards one of its nuclear plants, Saudi Arabia claimed its Patriot missile system successfully intercepted a Houthi missile, targeted at Riyadh airport.

In June, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain imposed an air, sea and land blockade on Qatar, halting Qatar Airways operations.

The conclusion of the 38th GCC summit in Kuwait after just a day of meetings exemplified the extent of the rift that has paralysed the committee since June.

The resolution comes at a time when Kuwait is hosting a Gulf Cooperation Council summit amid trade and travel ban on Qatar imposed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, who have accused Doha of supporting and funding "terrorism".

Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia snubbed its former ally Qatar at the annual summit Tuesday of Gulf monarchies as King Salman stayed away despite the presence of the Qatari emir.

He said Qatar's media has handled the crisis with great sensitivity, reiterating the comments made by the CEO of Qatar Media Corporation HE Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Hamad al-Thani during the fourth annual Gulf Studies Forum organised by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies. Qatar denies the charges.

Oman Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Yussef bin Alawi sat between them at the meeting which the foreign ministers of the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait also attended.

Bahrain in October called for Qatar's membership of the GCC to be suspended until it accepted the demands.

He and Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber al-Sabah were the only heads of state to attend the meeting.

It also indicated that USA and its European allies have told GCC members that region remains stronger with them working together as a whole, while "the countries themselves still appear divided" over their future.

But as the row continues, how those deals will be hammered out remains in flux, said Blunt.

"If the GCC is not working, we'll have to look at what is doable bilaterally".

Speaking at Monday's meeting, Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al Sabah stressed the determination of member states to preserve the GCC.

"The GCC is a continuous project in which the will of member states meets to build a unified Gulf body", he said.